（1. Baotou Institute of Material Research, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Baotou 014010, China）（2. The State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China）（3. Zhejiang Jiatai Metal Technology Co., Ltd., Jiaxing 314200, China）
Conventional titanium alloys are favored by aviation industry, while aiming at the development of new spacecrafts with higher-speed and larger-capacity, the performances of titanium alloys in terms of specific strength, specific modulus, heat resistance and other properties should be further improved. An effective way to improve the properties and performance of titanium alloys is to fabricate the titanium matrix composites (in-situ titanium matrix composites, in-situ TMCs). In these composites, heterogeneous reinforcements (micro/nano particles and whiskers) are formed by introducing reactants into the light-weight, high strength titanium alloy matrix, to possess higher strength and modulus and excellent creep resistance comparing with titanium alloys. Thus TMCs are expected to be prime candidate materials for the preparation of aerospace components. In recent years, the research interests of TMCs have gradually shifted from preparation technology, reinforcement-distribution homogenization, bulk deformation processing to the development of heat-resistant TMCs, the designed microstructural architectures, near-net-shaped forming (such as isothermal forging, precision-casting and additive manufacturing, etc.) and application test. In this study, the development of high-performance TMCs was focused, the research advances of fabrication methods, deformation processing and properties of heat-resistant TMCs were reviewed, and the potential research direction and application in various spacecraft were discussed.